IDFC unit buying BP's India wind energy assets-paper

The private equity arm of India's Infrastructure Development Finance Co is buying energy giant BP's wind power assets in India for 6.5 billion rupees ($134 million), the Economic Times reported on Friday.

This signals BP's exit from India's renewable energy market and underscores its focus on the U.S. market, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed person close to the development.

BP, the biggest oil producer in the United States, owns 100 megawatt of wind energy capacity in India from two plants. IDFC Private Equity will pay for the assets in two tranches of 3.5 billion rupees and 3 billion rupees, the paper said.

Officials at the private equity declined to comment on the deal, it said, and Reuters could not immediately reach them.

The focus of BP's wind energy business is in the U.S., where it has an opportunity to develop a portfolio of 20,000 MW, the paper quoted BP India spokesman Anshul Mathur as saying.

In India, we are not exploring any new wind development options, and are in the process of reviewing existing development positions. There are many potential options for the Indian wind business, one of which includes divestment, he told the paper.

IDFC PE was set up in 2002 and manages a corpus of $1.3 billion, its website showed.